The local police department and state inspectors raided the Gloucester Township EMS Alliance compound Tuesday and shut operations down, claiming the entire fleet of the 12-year old agency, which provides service for 70,000 local residents, was not properly registered and many lacked safety inspections.
The mayor and police chief summoned reporters to outline their concerns.
"In addition to numerous EMS code violations, this inspection found that these ambulances were unregistered motor vehicles. Additionally, two ambulances were found to be uninspected," Police Chief Harry Earle of Gloucester Township said.
The mayor said the Alliance, a nonprofit answering some 6,000 calls a year, has had past problems with the IRS, but he concedes there have no reported instances of inadequate service.
The mayor says he was forced to make this drastic move.
"As it was evident today, the day to day management of this nonprofit organization is not only lacking, but is in disarray," Mayor David Mayer said.
Tom Eden, the founder of the Alliance and Chief of EMS Operations, says all his paper work is in order and the tax situation is all straightened out.
He claims this is all cheap theatrics designed to humiliate him.
"It's all politics...he's trying to get rid of me and I was willing to resign to keep my 45 employees over it," Eden said.
Eden received phone calls from the state claiming his fleet is on the road to passing the inspections. He says he let his attorneys slug it out from here.
Mayor Mayer claims ambulance service is in the area is not suffering at all, outfits in nearby towns and a group called Kennedy Health Systems are on call to fill in as needed.
